If they are taking out student loans for an extra year or two it will have a negative effect financially. I work with senior engineers without degrees and they are in the same pay band as people with that title, a degree has no effect on salary. In all the discussions about levels at different places, including FAANG, I've never heard of a degree level impacting salary. The outlier there might be for very specialized research PhD types from prestigious universities. Someone can be book smart and excel in an academic environment and not have any practical experience for doing actual work.
In my opinion, anything beyond a Bachelors in CS is only going to help if you're going into academia or research.
Comments
If they are taking out student loans for an extra year or two it will have a negative effect financially. I work with senior engineers without degrees and they are in the same pay band as people with that title, a degree has no effect on salary. In all the discussions about levels at different places, including FAANG, I've never heard of a degree level impacting salary. The outlier there might be for very specialized research PhD types from prestigious universities. Someone can be book smart and excel in an academic environment and not have any practical experience for doing actual work.
In my opinion, anything beyond a Bachelors in CS is only going to help if you're going into academia or research.